My First Year of College

First, let me take a deep breath. Whoa! It's been one year since college began and although, it hasn't been as exciting as it looks from the outside, it's not been that bad, either. Infact, It's not even half bad. So, I'm a student of DU who was enrolled under the hastily introduced FYUP which would hold a rather debatable expansion; Four Year Undergraduate Programme or F*ck Yourself Undergraduate Programme. But, let's leave it to that. The termination of this new system came as hurriedly as its implementation, and so we are back to being students of the Three Year Undergraduate Programme.

                                  

Anyhow, apart from being treated as the official guinea pigs by the Great Indian Education System, there has been a lot to it. Basically, I'm going to talk of how my first year of college has been like. You may or may not exactly relate to it since it is an entirely personal and first hand experience of a freshers' year.

It all began a year ago in the July of 2013.
I remember getting the nerves on the first day of college that was supposed to be our very formal orientation programme. What to wear, what to carry, what to talk, what to say, what not to say, what to do and a whole other bunch of what's and how's. I was pleasantly surprised by the kind of orientation programme my college had organized. It could, well, have won the award for best orientation, if only they had such a category. The next few days were spent on the campus, meeting people and making new friends. Remember, friends made in the first few days of college stick around till the last ones.
Then came the Halloween themed freshers party thrown by my college which was rather amazing. Never seen so much horror in one place, except the fact that it is a girl's college. (Just kidding, bro!)

First semester was all about stupid Foundation Courses and their meaninglessness that we were subjected to. Amidst this madness, I made 4 new friends who I now consider the lifeline of my college years. The 5th friend wasn't a new one, she's one from school days, so yeah, that makes us a group of 6, myself included. (No names, sorry)
GK and Hauz Khas became our favourite shopping and hang out zones, respectively. Bunking had suddenly become synonymous with college.
There was a lot happening in the last few days of the semester, the Diwali mela, birthday parties, the pre-examination fun, the vellapanti-inspite-of-truckloads-of-syllabus and what not. All's well that ends well. So, Exams went just fine and we called it a semester, with a month's vacation to our disposal.

Second semester came with the fears of having to travel to college in the chilly winter mornings of January. Nevertheless, it was a whole new kind of adrenaline rush that I had never experienced before.
February couldn't have been more fun with the fest season approaching. Before Reverie, i'd always heard about fests and the hype around them from far away cousins and seniors but to be present there was a wonderful feeling. The fest lasted three days but the memories it gave me, shall last forever. The good food, the oh-so-hep-DJ, the guys' rare presence in a girl's college, the friends of friends, the star night performances, and so much more. To a few of us, fests can actually prove to establish long lasting connections and friendships. Experience talks, my friend.

 

Soon, we had our mid-sem break which was the best vacation time that we ever spent. Trip to Mumbai with college people during those days has been one hell of an experience. Oh-what-fun! You don't just take 70 girls of a DU college to Mumbai and expect no drama and no craziness. We were a whole package of exactly that.

                             

Later days saw the college elections, the new union being formed and other formalities. The next 2 months saw rigorous preparation for semester exams that were to be followed by 2 months of summer vacation. Result was declared, I scored a good 79% and I was happy to have completed my first year. One down, 2 to go.

Now, apart from the routine, in this first year of my college life, I had made a mark in the pages of a leading national daily: Hindustan Times (HtCity), been on a leading national news channel: NDTV, and been on air on a leading radio station: FEVER 104. So, that has been the high in my fresher's year.

It's been a mixed bag of experiences, some that I wish keep happening to me and some I wish had never happened in the first place.
College teaches you lessons you are not very likely to learn otherwise. It gives you the strength to deal with whatever comes your way and the courage to do what you will. It teaches you to not give a damn about stuff that you don't want to give a damn. It makes you want to fall in love with yourself all over again. It makes you hooked to the independence and freedom that you wish you had it a little under control. It makes you maturer and wiser. And as they say, akkal badaam khane se nahi, thokar khane se aati hai.

That's about it. I hope second year of college life that starts tomorrow is, if not more, as exciting as this past year. Given the additional burden of TYUP, God to bless us with the ability to ace it all.